LUMBAR FACET SYNDROME (INCIDENCE, SYMPTOMOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT)

Abstract

LBP (Low back pain) remains a common musculoskeletal complaint. Various structures have been incriminated as possible sources of chronic LBP, including posterior longitudinal ligament , dorsal root ganglia, dura , annular fibres, muscles of the lumbar spine and the facet joints.

In 1927, Putti attributed low back pain and sciatica to facet joint lesions of the inferior lumbar segments (essentially arthritic lesions) as well as to the assymmetry of the orientation of their articular process (2). Ghormley used  the term facet syndrome to describe the compression of the sciatic nerve ( lumbosacral nerve root ) in the intervertebral foramen narrowed by facet joint arthrosis.

Maigne (1971) brought attention to the  role of the facet joints in spinal pathology.(2). Facet joint pain can be due to inflammation, but most often it is the consequence of segmental dysfunction without any radiologic abnormality which the author calls “painful minor intervertebral dysfunction”.